


Waiting

by lovi



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Dystopia, Escape, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Forbidden Love, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, Philosophy, Quests, Romance, Running Away, Slow Romance, Unrequited Love, kinda??? maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 11:40:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11485659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovi/pseuds/lovi
Summary: In a future world where the state removes the ability to feel emotions from its citizens at childbirth, Aaron Burr feels like an outcast in a city of programmed machines. That is, until he meets Alexander Hamilton, the only other person in the entire city of Seattle with color in his eyes and the experience of human emotion. However, if discovered, they are legally required to be executed on the spot. Are their escape plans to get to a safe haven realistic or impossible?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prologue:
> 
>  
> 
> In the year of 2053, the Federal Republic of Northern and Inward States, better known as the FRNIS (pronounced FURNACE), finally announced the results of a long-running experiment, and what they planned on doing with the results of this experiment.
> 
> FRNIS was established in 2030, and it encompassed nearly all of the territory of the previous United States of America, spare the major cities of New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, and San Francisco. This list sadly lost the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Houston, and Seattle between the years of 2030 and 2052. However, the rest of the cities listed still remain classified as the United Coast of America (UCA), with the capital resting in the original American capital of Washington, D.C. The current capital of FRNIS is located in Juneau, Alaska, where the national standing committee had recently announced the results of this experiment.
> 
> The goal of the experiment was to find out what was the biggest cause behind revolutions and other forms of political or social unrest. It consisted of scientific (biological), social and physiological, and historical research and experimentation. The results were that unrest was largely justified by human emotional development and response, as in the way humans emotionally reacted to situations that they deemed unjust or not “right”.
> 
> So, to utilize this knowledge to the best of their abilities to ensure a “peaceful” and “domestic” way of life, the standing committee of FRNIS issued a decree stating that all babies born must have the section of their brain that allows them to develop and process emotions removed. The method used in the removal of this area of the brain, however, also damages the part of the eye that reflects a color in the iris in the surgical process, so all eyes of these citizens are grey and unable to see color. The arts were basically obsolete in the Americas at this point in time, so emotion was not as necessary for human progress as it once was. That led to easy convincing among the parents of children born in these hospitals. Every hospital throughout FRNIS is legally required to practice these procedures.
> 
> In the current year of 2231, there are no longer any citizens alive who have not been born into these circumstances. With the recent passing of the Bicentennial of FRNIS, support for the state is at its highest level yet, and so is the amount of power that the state holds.
> 
> Any citizens found alive who are somehow born with the part of this brain intact are legally required to be executed on the spot.

What is love?

Does love even exist?

I myself haven’t had the honor of experiencing love yet, but I’ve heard many other people talk about it.

I tried doing some research on it, coming across many videos of people saying phrases such as “I love you” and “I love you, too”. It was like a broken record, playing the same old sickening tune.

Ever since I was little, I would ask my parents if they loved each other. Obviously, they would reply with a yes. But their grey eyes weren’t as convincing.

Sometimes, eyes know more than the people who bear them. And this was one of those times. Their minds were convincing them that they knew what love was, and their bodies were as well. But their eyes were entirely unfamiliar with the concept, almost as if they had been programmed to feel absolutely nothing.

Around the age of five, I noticed that I was a bit different than the other kids. They would say lots of things—mean things, kind things—and have absolutely no reaction out of it. If an insult was thrown at them, they would reply with an “okay”, and then just move on.

And, I mean, of course we’ve learned about our country’s history. How emotions had led to terrible things such as war and murder. Everyone in our society grew believing that emotions were terrible, horrible things that needed to be completely obliterated because of this.

So, they rook away all emotion. When a baby was born, they would go into immediate surgery, removing the area of the brain that produced love, hate, happiness… everything. And to them, that led to a perfectly-programmed, cold-hearted zombie child.

But, everyone makes mistakes, and I was one of them.

No, not the person who made the mistake, but the mistake in and of itself.

Instead of being hospitalized, I was born at home, and my parents hid me from the world until I was old enough to go to preschool. Why? They didn’t believe that what was happening was the right way to do things; my father was a well-respected member of the government who saw things for how they really were, and my mother was a genius. Although they could not be emotionally driven to do this for me for obvious reasons, they believed that emotions led to human progress and that human progress was necessary. They kept me home for a small portion of my childhood, and it was there where I was taught to fake a lack of emotion and to always keep a straight face, unless I was at home or absolutely hidden from sight. 

So here I am, Aaron Burr, 20 years old, and the only guy in the entire city of Seattle who has brown eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> filler, but important filler

“Mr. Burr, just what do you think you’re doing?” I heard my professor, Dr. Washington, call from the front of the classroom.

“Copying down notes, sir.” I responded calmly, quietly closing my latest obsession (Romeo and Juliet), and looking up upward to meet his gaze.

“Don’t pretend like I didn’t catch you reading when you were supposed to be getting work done. Detention for today and tom—”

“But sir, I already know all of this. These are just mere equations and variables, I mean, this is practically an 8th Grade education.”

“Don’t you dare interrupt me, Burr. Now, if you think you’re so smart, then hopefully you will put that brain of yours to good use and not only copy down these notes, but see me after school for detention for the rest of the week. Understood?”

I stared at the professor, Dr. Washington, at a loss for words. Finally, I was able to gain my voice back just enough to squeak out a feeble “Yes, sir” and get back to work. I was a great student, I had never—and I mean NEVER—gotten detention before. The fact that we even need detention at the collegial level of learning further proved how low-quality the education systems in FRNIS really were. I mean, we were still learning the basics of algebra in our junior year of college. I felt as if I were being held back: I could be learning so much more, but all I had was the few websites that our school permitted and the public library around the corner. I put my head in my hands, sighing deeply. This day was going to be longer than I thought. Great, just great.

 

* * * * *

 

The day, despite my previous opinions about it, ended up going by pretty fast. Soon enough it was my lunch break, and my stomach was growling up a storm.

I was walking towards the cafeteria, carrying my brown bag lunch in my hands, when I suddenly heard shouting from down the hall.

“MR. HAMILTON, GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!”

“JUST TRY AND CATCH ME, YOU OLD COOT. WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU?!”

As soon as I turned and tried to see what could possibly be going on, they passed by me in a blur of skidding sneakers and dress shoes that were not meant for running. I kept watching as the professor, who I realized was Dr. Washington yet again, caught up with the delinquent and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

It was very rare to see rebellious people in our society, but there were a few outliers here and there, mostly those who needed extra mental stimulation. Back in high school, the big rumor was that a college student by the name of Charles Lee poured purple hair dye into the hair product that Dr. Washington had bought beforehand and brought to class. Let’s just say that didn’t end well.

But getting back to the present, I could hear Dr. Washington scolding this “Hamilton” kid all the way from the other end of the hallway. I didn’t bother to stay any longer since my stomach was beginning to protest the lack of food.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first longer chapter. now we're pickin up the pace

Later that day, I arrived at Dr. Washington’s door right as the last school bell rang, reverberating throughout the near-empty hallways. As in, empty plus one. I walked into his room, taking a seat at the desk in the front. Dr. Washington was seated at his desk placed in the center of the classroom, angled directly at me.

“Well, well, well, look who’s here. We’re waiting on one more student, he should be here any minute now.”

However, many minutes passed by, and he didn’t show up until around 3:30 pm.

“Sorry I’m late, I accidentally took the bus home and—”

“No excuses, Hamilton. Now take a seat. I’m going home, I don’t want to spend my evening with you two. And don’t even think about trying to leave—the janitors are cleaning until five, and they said they’d watch the exits for me. So, goodbye.” Dr. Washington picked up his briefcase and pea coat and was on his way.

I immediately recognized this boy as the one who was running in the hallways earlier today. He looked up at me, and something was different about his face that I just couldn’t seem to place a finger on. As if perfectly timed, he turned to me and stuck out his hand, grinning.

“Hey, my name is Alexander Hamilton, what’s up?”

“Mine is Aaron Burr, and I’m fine, how are you?” I said with a slight air of suspicion, shaking his hand regardless.

“Just dandy.” He sighed in obvious annoyance, resting his cheek on the palm of hand, which was supported by his elbow on the desk. “I was supposed to be going out tonight, but noooo, Dr. Washing-fuck had to come along and ruin all of my plans.”

I looked at him a little closer. His hair was a lovely mousy brown, and he had it pulled back into a loose ponytail. Those glasses that he had on made him look smart without looking too nerdy. He was wearing a simple t-shirt with a green cargo jacket over top of it, and I couldn’t help but imagine that if this was what he wore to school, then his clothes at home must be horrifically casual. He was a pretty small guy; everything about him was tiny except for his expressions, which were over-exaggerated. And his eyes, they were the color of raw, uncut emeralds. The grass in the peak of May. They were an intelligent, elegant green, one whose true nature couldn’t be captured in any kind of photo.

… Green eyes.

He had green eyes.

Not grey eyes, I mean legitimate green eyes.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, had I finally found someone just like me? Someone who could feel emotion? Someone who—

“Hey Ronnie, I said, are you okay? By the way, can I call you Ronnie?”

I snapped back into reality in the blink of an eye.

“What? Oh, yeah. And no, I prefer just Aaron.”

“Aw, c’mon, I thought Ronnie was a cool nickname! I just thought of it now!”

“Nope. No nicknames for me.”

We sat in silence for a minute or two, with him twiddling his thumbs and glancing around and me reading my book. However, my quality reading time was soon interrupted by his loud voice.

“Whatcha readin’?”

“If you really want to know, it’s Romeo and Juliet.”

“Oh. And I just need to say one more thing, sorry.”

I sighed dramatically, trying to show that I was not interested in whatever he had to say.

“What?”

“You have the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen.”

I completely froze, my breath caught in my throat. I could feel the warmth of a blush spreading like wildfire across my cheeks. All my life, I had never had the chance to hear something like that. Nobody I knew could see in color. It felt like a first kiss, but somehow more intimate.

“I-I don’t know about that…” I managed to stammer out.

“But they are though…” He pouted, turning around to face me. “I wouldn’t lie about something stupid like that.”

Another ten minutes or so of quiet went by that thickened the air and made it impossibly harder to breath. My mind was running a mile a minute, I kept thinking “What’s this kid gonna do next? What’s he gonna say?” It was all a wild card, and so much was on the table. I had been covering up my true identity for all my life, and this was the first time I had ever met someone who appeared to be in the same predicament. Then he broke the silence again.

“Can you feel things too?”

“Can I WHAT?” He was asking RIDICULOUSLY personal questions.

“Can you feel things, like when you feel really good or really bad about something, you know?” He paused, taking a deep breath and lowering his voice. “I was told not to bring this up, and even when it is brought up, it’s still a difficult topic to address, but your eyes made me think that you might know what I am talking about.”

Oh, I knew what he was talking about, alright. I was feeling a lot of those feelings right now. I took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

“Yes, I do.”

A pause.

“… Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m one hundred percent positive.”

“Wow…”

We both quieted down for a few seconds until he quite literally and suddenly tackled me to the floor.

“OH, RONNIE! YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW LONG I’VE LOOKED FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME! I was kind of hoping they’d have a little more hair… but you’ll do!” He was squeezing the living shit out of me and I felt like I had died and was sent to some wack-ass variation of purgatory.

“Alexander! Get off of me!! I’ll suffocate.” I nearly shouted, smiling a little bit. He really was excited about this. He moved away from me pretty quickly.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. I’m so happy I met you, Aaron! Now…”

He passed me a small slip of paper.

“Call me sometime tomorrow, or text me tonight, or whatever. I just wanna make sure that I have your number in my phone. And tomorrow night, meet me in front of the school after detention. I need to show you something important. It’ll help us out a whole lot.”

I was a bit nervous about what he could possibly be talking about that was so important, but I just let it subside into mild excitement and went along with it.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re asking me out on a date.” I paused, jokingly wiggling my eyebrows. “Are you flirting with me, Mr. Hamilton?” I smirked, but couldn’t help but let a little giggle escape my lips.

“Maybe, Burr, maybe. Looks like you’ll just have to wait and find out…” He grinned back, playing along. He stood up and swung his backpack over his shoulder. “Your chariot will be awaiting your arrival.”

I smiled. “Why, thank you, kind sir, but I must bid thee goodnight.”

“’Till death do us part,” He proclaimed, bowing, and then coming back up with that huge grin plastered across his face.

After my long walk home, I finally got up to my room and realized that it was already dark out. After flopping down on my bed, I turned my phone on, sending a message to Alexander to make sure it worked.

Message sent, text received, heartbeat quickening.

I think I had a new friend. And he was like me.


End file.
